


Live From New York

by edsheeran



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Actor!Louis, M/M, Singer!Harry, obvious fuckers honestly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 19:26:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1196628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edsheeran/pseuds/edsheeran
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>SNL AU where Louis is the host and Harry is the musical guest. They may be dating.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Live From New York

**Author's Note:**

> yes, this is posted on my wattpad account back in november. i'm trying to expand a bit :)
> 
> and um. happy birthday to ed (or uhhh... me)

            Saturday night at 11:30 and the studio is buzzing. The house band is nearly finished setting up and Louis Tomlinson is waiting patiently backstage in an all-black suit. The audience and the viewers at home are watching a short video about something in American politics that Louis has no knowledge on, but he trusts that the cast is doing a good job on making fun of it.

            He has his hands in the pockets of his black trousers and shifts his balance from his toes to his heels and back to his toes. He hears “And live from New York, it’s Saturday night!” right before the opening credits. Louis looks around his surroundings and it amazes him at how so many people work together to make this show happen every Saturday night. He smiles to himself because he feels like he’s back in high school when he was part of theatre and got his first feel of the spotlight.

            “With musical guest, Harry Styles,” the announcer says. “And your host, Louis Tomlinson.” The house band has been playing for the past minute and Louis braces himself. “Ladies and gentlemen, Louis Tomlinson!”

            Louis takes a deep breath before walking through the doors, past the band, and down the steps to the front of the stage. The audience is cheering and Louis is already overwhelmed. He smiles and nods and waves. “Thank you, thank you,” he starts once the audience quiets down. “I am so excited to be here tonight because as you can tell by my accent, I’m not from here!” The audience chuckles and Louis takes it as encouragement. “I was trying to figure out an excuse to come across the pond, but my mum was all like ‘who are you going with’ and ‘when will you be back’ and ‘will there be alcohol.’ I reckon she forgets I’m twenty-one.” The audience laughs again. He opens his mouth to continue, but there’s a loud shriek from the audience. “I think someone just died.”

            “No, no, no one’s dead.” Louis turns his head and sees Kate McKinnon next to him. “That was just Bobby.”

            “Bobby?” Louis raises his brow and turns back to the audience where he sees Bobby fanning himself with his hand as if he is severely flustered. “You alright there, mate?”

            “Oh my god, Louis Tomlinson just spoke to me,” Bobby fangirls.

            Kate nods. “He did. I saw it myself.”

            Louis furrows his brow. “Um, Bobby?”

            “Oh my god, Louis Tomlinson, born December 24th, 1991 knows my name!”

            “He does,” Kate agrees.

            “Really?”

            “Oh my god, Louis Tomlinson –” Bobby pauses. “Kate, do you think Louis knows CPR?”

            She shrugs. “It’s possible. Why?” In response, Bobby faints and she nods. “Oh, that’s why.” She pats Louis’ shoulder. “You’re doing good.” And with that, she walks off stage.

            Louis makes a face and chuckles. “Alright.” He claps his hands together. “Some of you may know me from Midnight Memories.” Louis has to pause momentarily because the audience claps and cheers. “Where I play a lad named William who is the underdog of the group or, at least, that’s what people tell me. To me, little William just wants to play football, or as you say it here in the colonies, soccer.” The audience gets a kick out of that joke and Louis wants to jump in happiness. “We have a great show for you. Harry Styles is here and stop giving me that look! Stick around and we’ll be right back!”

            The house bands starts playing again and as soon as the red light above the cameras go off, Louis runs off stage to go change into his costume for his first skit.

|||||

            The cameras are back on and Louis is wearing a cop’s uniform with a reflective vest over his shirt and a big, red stop sign in his hand. If it’s not obvious, Louis is portraying someone who directs traffic, but he’s not your average traffic cop.

            “Alright,” Louis says in an American accent, handing the stop sign to the other character. “I know this is your first day, so we’re going to take things slow, alright?”

            The character looks hesitant, but nods nevertheless. “Alright.”

            “The first step is to have a firm stance right in the center of the intersection. You following?”

            “Y-yeah.”

            Louis takes a few steps back and stands presumably in the center of the intersection. “Now, you want to be aware of what direction the cars are coming, so make sure you’re wearing shoes you can move in.”

            The character scratches his head. “But then why stand in the center of the intersection if I’m going to be moving?”

            He groans. “Would ya listen? I said stand in the center and wear shoes you can move in. You have to be in the center, so you don’t get hit.”

            “But won’t standing in the center be in the way of cars when they turn?”

            “You ask too many questions.”

            “But—”

            Louis cuts him off. “Too many questions. Now, come over here and watch me.” The character stands next to Louis and watches him with intently. “There is a right way to do this and a wrong way to do this. You have to be careful because if you do it the wrong way, everything will go wrong and there will be a huge accident on your hands.”

            The character gulps. “Oh boy.”

            “Don’t be worried,” Louis assures him. “This is all you have to do.” Louis raises one of his arms straight out with his palm out and when he sees the character not copying, he says, “Try it out.”

            The character mirrors Louis. “Like this?”

            “Perfect,” Louis smiles. Now he raises his other arm, but this one has his palm in. “Depending on which line of cars you’re allowing is what depends on which hand does what.”

            “Sir?”

            “What?”

            “What do I do with the stop sign?”

            Louis rolls his eyes. “I dunno, what are stop signs for? Honestly. Too many questions.” The character looks shot down, so Louis continues. “Watch this. It can get tricky.” He clears his throat and looks straight ahead so fiercely that it almost looks like Louis is about to go down a runway. “With this hand, you keep it still, but the other hand, you wave ‘em through.” He demonstrates and the character looks confused.

            “Wave ‘em through?”

            “Yes.” Louis does it again. “Try it!” The character tries and Louis shakes his head. “No, no.” He does it a third time, and this time there’s a bounce to it. “Like this.”

            Louis has the character repeat the motion until they are both dancing. He is having a hard time keeping in his laughter because the writers would take one of his “signature” dance moves and turn it into a skit.

            A screen that read The Next Day appears and the camera goes back to Louis, but with a different character. “Okay, so let’s get started and listen carefully. It didn’t work out for the last guy.”

            The new character is curious. “What happened to the last guy?”

            Louis sighs. “Poor guy got run over. He waved ‘em through when he should have stopped the traffic.”

            “What?” The new character is alarmed and then the skit is over.

            The next skit takes places on a different stage and Louis is not part of it, so he goes backstage to change. He gets about ten minutes to breathe and go over his lines before he has to go back out there to introduce the musical guest. It is a coincidence that he and Harry both be in New York on the same episode of Saturday Night Live, but Louis has a feeling it isn’t really a coincidence.

|||||

            After the second skit, it goes into a digital short followed by a commercial break. The ten minutes are up faster than Louis expected them to be and now he’s standing in the audience with a stupid smile on his face. The cameraman nods at him and Louis opens his mouth. “And now, Harry styles!” Louis catches himself on one of the screens and he may be fonding a bit.

            The camera move on to Harry and as soon as the music starts, Harry goes into rockstar mode. He sings with so much passion that anyone can tell that anything that comes out of him is coming straight from his heart. He loves performing and honestly, he can’t see himself doing anything different.

            Louis watches Harry from a dressing room and has no shame when he sings along to the song. He didn’t know he knew all the words, but apparently he does and he is humming it as he steps out of the dressing room. He runs straight into a girl who has a headset on and a clipboard in her hand.

            “There you are.” She looks over the clipboard and points. “You should be there in the next minute to get ready for the next part.”

            “Right,” Louis nods. “Thanks, darling.”

            She is about to respond, but she catches the name on the dressing room Louis just came out of. “No problem,” she gives him a knowing smile before walking away. Louis doesn’t think much of it as he goes to where he should be. Someone from hair comes over and helps him put on a wig and straightens out his outfit.

            After his performance, Harry is rushed backstage to change. He got roped into participating in a couple of segments which he finds hilarious because he’s not that great of an actor; however, both segments he is with Louis, so maybe it’s not all that hilarious after all. (He does laugh at the outfit and wig he puts on, though).

            Seth Myers and Cecily Strong are doing the Weekend Update and they are wonderful at it. They alternate news stories for a couple of minutes before Seth smiles wide at the camera. A photoshopped picture of Harry and Louis appears next to Seth’s head and he begins speaking. “So, there has been lots of talk about a certain actor and a certain musician who may or may not be dating. These two have been stirring up quite a commotion, so to comment, I give you the two in question, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson!”

            Both Harry and Louis are sat in wheely chairs, so as soon as Seth introduces them, they are being pushed onto the stage. Harry nearly collides with Seth, but Louis is quick to stop him and Harry gives him a grateful smile.

            “Thanks for dropping by,” Seth says, giving them a knowing look.

            That is the second time Louis has gotten that look in the past five minutes and he could really slap that look off of everyone. “Thanks for having us,” Louis replies, but makes his voice deeper and draws out the words because well, he is dressed as Harry and Harry is dressed as him.

            Seth is already getting a kick out of this. “So _Harry_ , tell me your thoughts on the speculation that you and Louis here are a couple.”

            “Well, like. Louis is like. Uhm.” Louis’s imitation of Harry has Harry biting his lip to keep himself from bursting into giggles. “We uh, like, just.”

            “Uh-huh,” Seth nods. “Tell me more.”

            The crowd laughs and Louis shakes his head and shrugs. “There’s like. Uh. Not like, much to say, Seth.”

            “Is that true, _Louis_?”

            Harry shrugs. “It is what it is, Seth.”

            Seth shakes his head, but he’s smiling. “And there you have it folks. Give it up for Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson!” And then the two of them are wheeling themselves offstage.

            They get up and Louis is about to head off to change once again, but Harry grabs his arm. “That’s a nice shirt you got there, pal.”

            Louis looks down at the oversized flannel he has on. “Thanks dude.” He winks before disappearing off to his dressing room.

            Harry chuckles to himself and decides to keep on the Louis-esque shirt he has on considering Louis basically stole the shirt he was going to wear for his next performance (not that he minds in the slightest).

|||||

            There’s a commercial break after the Weekend Update and when they come back, Louis is on a stage set as a game show. He is wearing an “I <3 Harry” shirt and is standing behind a podium among two others.

            Kate is acting as the host while Louis, Vanessa Bayer, and Kenan Thompson act as the contestants. “Welcome back everyone,” Kate announces. “Last round ended a bit abruptly, but have no fear, Harry Styles is here!”

            “H-Harry Styles?” Kenan asks. “I think I’m in the wrong round.”

            “Come on out, Harry!” Kate calls and Harry makes his way on stage. Once he is standing next to her, she continues. “Do you know how this works, Harry?”

            He shakes his head. “Not really.”

            “No problem.” Kate loops her arm through Harry’s and angles them towards the contestants. “It’s simple. Here are three wonderful people who are competing for your heart. There’s Kenan.”

            “I really think I’m in the wrong round,” Kenan repeats.

            “There’s Vanessa.”

            “We can dress up like Miley together!”

            “And there’s Louis.” Kate winks into the camera.

            “Oh, for god’s sake,” Louis mumbles.

            Kate smiles. “Now that you know everyone, all you have to do is list of traits of what you’re looking for in a partner. If the contestants possess these traits, their podiums will lights up with every trait. Got it?”

            “Uh, yeah.” Harry coughs into his hand.

            “Okay, start the clock please.” Kate looks down at a card in her hand (despite the fact that there’s nothing actually written on it). “Now, Harry, tell us and everyone at home – what do you look for in a partner?”

            “Well,” Harry beings. “I like someone who’s nice.”

            All three podiums light up.

            “Someone with a nice laugh.”

            Louis’ and Vanessa’s light up, but not Kenan’s. “Hey!”

            “Someone who is spontaneous.”

            Louis’ podium lights up.

            “Someone who I can have a good time with.”

            Only Louis’ lights up.

            “Hmmm,” Kate smirks. The timer goes off and she claps her hands. “Looks like time is up and let’s tally up the marks shall we?” The camera pans the contestants and starts with Kenan. “With the lowest number of one, Kenan. With two, Vanessa. And with flying colors, Mr. Louis Tomlinson!”

            Kenan fakes offense and Vanessa pretends to be in tears and Louis, well Louis is staring at Harry like he’s the only person in the world and like they are not live right now.

            Just about the entire studio is giving them that knowing look. “So Harry, looks like we found you your match. Louis, come on over here,” Kate waves him over.

            Louis is snapped out of whatever reverie he was in and walks over to Kate and Harry. “So, I hear I’m what you’re looking for,” he teases.

            Harry points at his shirt. “That shirt is what did it for me.”

            “Whoa!” Kate cuts in. “Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?” She pulls the collar of her shirt away from her neck and uses the card to fan herself. She composes herself after a moment. “And there we have it folks, Harry found his someone and that concludes tonight’s show. Tune in next week when we have my pizza delivery boy find his true love!” The camera pans out and the viewers are directed to a digital short.

            Once the cameras are off, Harry smirks. “That shirt is really what did for me, Lou. Tell me, where did you get it?”

            “Oh, this?” Louis points to it. “I guess you’ll just have to find out later,” he winks. Louis steps close to Harry and stands on the tips of his toes, so he can whisper in Harry’s ear. “Now, get ready for your song, rockstar.”

            Harry may or may not be blushing as Louis walks away.

|||||

            “Once again, Harry Styles!” Louis introduces before Harry takes the stage again. Louis is more or less already in costume for the next skit, so he stays in the audience where he can watch Harry. The younger of the two owns the stage as he walks from one side to the other, belting out the words and being a total badass. Louis is enchanted as he watches Harry and Harry knows it.

            Harry meets Louis’ eyes on more than one occasion and it can be argued that he is directly singing to Louis. The audience members closest to Louis feel like they are invading a personal moment because of how genuine the two are looking at each other.

            “Thank you!” Harry says in the microphone and Louis almost forgets that he has a role in the next skit. _Whoopsie_.

            Because of Louis’ slight forgetfulness, they go to commercial and when they come back, they put on a digital short. On time this time, Louis is sitting a judges table playing the role of Simon Cowell on the X-Factor.

            It’s a short skit making fun of how the auditions go and how there are more bad acts than good. Louis has a great time acting at Simon and he sincerely hopes the man is watching or sees it later. In rehearsals, Louis tried out his Simon-impression and the producers loved it. Let’s just say that Louis does a mean Simon Cowell.

            As soon as the skit is over, everyone quickly rushes over to the main stage where Louis is supposed to end the show. He puts the flannel over his shirt before running on stage to the middle. “I want to say a massive thank you to everyone here in the studio for making this Saturday night great! Thank you to everyone watching at home and thank you to Harry styles! Have a wonderful night and big thanks to SNL for having me! You all are absolutely amazing and goodnight!” The end credits are rolling and the theme song is playing and everyone is hugging everyone and Louis is happy.

            He was a bit nervous about tonight, but he can say that he really had nothing to be nervous about. Louis believes he did well as a first-time host and he hopes that he is asked to host again some day in the future. He loves how the cast in like a family and how in the week that he’s known them, Louis has grown to like them. He almost doesn’t want to leave and nearly asks the producer if he can audition to be a regular cast member.

            Louis turns around to give a hug to anyone who will accept it, but he freezes when he sees Harry right next to him, giving him a questioning look. Well, it’s more like a look of permission and Louis knows exactly what Harry is asking. He doesn’t think about it because if he does, he’ll second guess himself. The only logic Louis has in mind is that the show is at the end and he did it and he was able to do it with Harry and the cast basically plotted against them and he nods. He nods and Harry surges forward and connects their lips together.

            It looks like everyone has finally gotten the answer to the question they have been asking all night.

            

**Author's Note:**

> new stuff coming in a couple months weow!
> 
> tumblr: littlecutielouis


End file.
